Sunday, December 27, 2015

Two People Shot In Post-Concert Crowd At Aragon (Updated 4x)

A reader posted this photo to the UU Facebook page,
showing Lawrence closed off by the police east of Broadway.
The Aragon is located east of the CTA train platform.

Shortly after the Saturday night show at the Aragon ended and the crowd started streaming out of the venue, shots rang out in front of the concert hall. According to 20th District Police, a male was shot in the leg and a female's forehead was grazed by a bullet.

Readers report hearing four separate bursts of 8-10 shots. Police and ambulances were on the scene in less than a minute.

It all took place at 2:25am. The show, "College Craze 4: Law Cannon & DJ Hoop Dreams" according to the Aragon's website, had concluded about 15 minutes earlier and hundreds of people were leaving the Aragon at the time.

It's not known whether the people hit were innocent bystanders or intended targets. It's also not known at this time whether the shooting was related to the concert in any way. A reader says, "Word in the street is two vehicles passing through shooting at each other." Another reader says that a suspect car was stopped over on Devon.

Update: One of the managers of the Uptown Lounge, located a few doors west of the Aragon, posted on UU's Facebook page,

Selling point for the concert:
"80+ security guards"

"Between 20-25 gun shots at approx. 2:23am from the gang bangers that attended the hip hop show with Lil Durk/ G Herbo at the Aragon Ballroom - gunfire exchanged, SUV crashed into the brick wall of the parking lot just west of the Aragon, shooters jumped out of SUV into another car, bullet casings all over the street (and bullet holes in 2 cars parked on Lawrence in front of Bridgeview Bank), street blocked off from Broadway to parking lot with detectives since they are considering it a crime scene.

This is 100% connected to the concert. This corner has always been a safe haven for the neighborhood and I am disgusted and mad.

Black SUV still at scene (both gold cars in the picture have bullet holes)."

Update: What the promoters suspected would be a volatile crowd (judging by the claim of 80+ security guards on the promotional flyers) was exacerbated when the concert started late. We are told that there were still lines of people waiting to get into the venue two and a half hours after the scheduled start of the show.

Neighbors report various altercations before the concert on the streets surrounding the Aragon.

Update:The Tribune says, "At about 2:30 a.m., two people were shot in Uptown, said Chicago police spokesman Officer Ron Gaines. A 68-year-old man was standing outside and a 34-year-old woman was in a vehicle in the 1100 block of West Lawrence Avenue when they each heard gunfire and realized they had been shot, Gaines said.

The man was shot in the leg and the woman was grazed in the forehead. Both went to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in good condition. After the shooting, an empty SUV was discovered crashed nearby, Gaines said."

Update: Alderman Cappleman tweeted: "One victim released from hospital. Other one is stable. Pulling camera pod footage to assist with ongoing investigation. ... At this time, believe shooting related to concert."

9 comments:

I live on Kenmore and back up to the Aragon parking lot at Winthrop & Lawrence. I was already semi-awake at the time of the shooting because the concert goers in the parking lot were blasting music from their cars, partying, yelling, and honking. The gunfire around 2:30 was so loud and sustained I thought it was within feet of our property. My comment to the 911 dispatcher was, "SO MUCH gunfire, this may be the most I've ever heard at close quarters."

The Aragon really needs post-concert crowd control and security on the streets and in the parking lots around the venue to manage public safety, noise control, and respect for neighboring property.

I was there. The police and ambulances did not arrive in less than a minute. THE SHOOTING WENT on for about 4 minutes. About 4 minutes later the police arrived. It's important to be accurate.

40% of the budget for the City goes to the POLICE. That's why we are paying higher real estate taxes. FORTY PERCENT. 1/2 BILLION dollars in payments to people who have sued the police for various reasons since early 2000's.

Now why didn't the police anticipate trouble at the end of this RAP concert where gang members from both sides went to hear their DJ's. ?????

I knew this was going to happen as I live next to the Aragon and saw the crowd going in, the DJ rapper concert being promoted on the sign. All it would have taken is a single police car sitting outside the Aragon and, most likely there would have been no shooting.

Let's cut the crap. The police don't care if gang members kill each other, this has been told to me by police on a number of occasions and if you read second city cop it's all there in black and white.

Who are the policeman? Many are from the suburbs, whether they live in the city is questionalble. But they have a suburban, not a city mentality are often hired for political reasons and that's why they aren't really psychologically fit to handle city pressures.

On the other side are the gang members who are grim, dumb and brutal. THere is no answer for this except attempts at prevention which is what a single police car probably would have prevented. Why aren't the police commanders looking to anticipate trouble? It would have been very easy to identify the Aragon as a potential trouble spot.

StuPiddy, you and I both live near the Aragon. But we have very different impressions of what happened.

I called 911 when I heard the first shots. WHILE I WAS ON THE PHONE WITH THE 911 OPERATOR, I heard more shots. I also saw EMT vehicles and police cars going the wrong way on one-way streets to get to the Aragon, WHILE I WAS STILL ON THE PHONE WITH THE 911 OPERATOR.

The neighborhood was volatile before the show and there were plenty of cops putting out metaphorical fires. There were two vehicles that stopped in the middle of the street in front of my house. Both emptied and the occupants started fighting. I called 911 and the cops were there in under a minute. Later they came again when the people from one car returned during the concert and started breaking bottles on the street. They were there in less than 15 seconds after I heard breaking glass.

The lady from the Uptown Lounge said the police were checking in with her a few times before and during the concert. The police were there.

But the neighborhood around the Aragon was under a lot of stress last night due to the concert.

Read what the lady from the Uptown Lounge wrote. This was preplanned. The shooters had a car waiting for them after they did the shooting. Having a police car in front of the Aragon wouldn't have stopped that.

I think it was very irresponsible of the Aragon to host a concert that had to brag about how many security guards would be on hand. What were they thinking? Have a rapper versus rapper concert a block away from the site of the murder of a well-known rapper and the ensuing violence that's come to the community as a result. VERY VERY IRRESPONSIBLE.

Uptown Lounge 1136 W. Lawrence Ave. will continue to be the safe haven it has been for 14 years! This situation is 100% the result of the Aragon Ballroom and the hip hop promoters (who BTW utilized the selling point of "80+ security guards inside & outside" on their flyers to their 18-22yr. old fans - are you kidding me?!?) giving the universe the platform to allow this to happen. This was NOT an "Uptown neighborhood" thing. This was a situation BROUGHT to our neighborhood---> ignorant & selfish cowards that communicate with guns without a care in the world for the consequences. Change will happen!

James Cappleman, please utilize my up close and personal knowledge of what is really happening with some of the Aragon Ballroom's programming choices and how it is affecting our neighborhood.

I must add that the 20th police district response (and surrounding districts) was immediate, thorough, and intense once the gun fire began. Unfortunately this is NOT always the case when they have been requested for other fights, disturbances, agitated situations resulting from irresponsible programming choices at Aragon Ballroom. But this time...they got it as right as they could have with the situation!

I agree with this are money goes to the cop's at least have a fucking cop their and the Aragon did wrong by saying how many security guards we're in side if you think about it it all seems organized and planned but we worry more on war smh

Agreed, Boohoo. This is Aragon's responsibility. It is they who should charge more for tickets to ensure - and pay for - an increased and effective police and security presence before and after their concerts.

The shooting was so sustained and there were so many shots fired with significant pauses in between that I CAN'T BELIEVE that none of the shots were fired by cops. Based on how long the shootings were and the clear sounds of multiple guns, I thought for sure some of the shots had to be coming from cops. This should be the last time anything like this happens outside the Aragon after a show.

All I did was look at the acts and the type of music and immediately saw the problem! What could go wrong?? A few points:• I totally agree. Very irresponsible programming choice. And yes, security is the responsibility of the venue. • This was totally brought in to the neighborhood form the west and south side and it is total BS from gangbanger scum. Did black lives matter protest by the Aragon the next day? Just curious. • Stu Pidity: You're paying higher taxes because of years of squandering tax dollars and the city is in debt up to its ears. 40% of the entire city budget for public safety? Not enough, considering 55% of my individual property tax bill goes to a lousy school system. Don't blame the police for this.